The Protein and Small Molecule Chemistry Core (Core C) will provide instrumentation, expertise and service related to the cloning, expression and purification of viral proteins and virus-like-particles (VLPs) as needed by each of the three major projects. In addition, the Core will provide chemical synthesis support for the small molecule inhibitor discovery efforts proposed in Projects 1 and 3. This core will provide the following specific functions: (1) cloning of wild-type and mutant genes encoding viral proteins into bacterial and insect expressions systems; (2) purification of viral proteins; (3) expression, purification and characterization of VLPs; (4) quantitation of interactions with antibodies, polysaccharides and small molecules; (5) synthesis of peptide arrays for diagnostics assays proposed in Project 1; (6) synthesis of small molecules to examine structure-activity relationships and increase potency of candidate molecules developed in Projects 1 and 3.